Some World Cup thoughts

Given my unlikely-to-change preference for international cricket over that featuring franchises, I'm anticipating the T20 World Cup quite eagerly (it also helps that the timezones work for me). There are, I think, several other reasons to do so. Firstly, I'm hoping the World Cup makes conversations about cricket to be just about the game (much as I like talking about cricket in context, sometimes I like just thinking about bat and ball). Secondly, I'm keen to see whether there are perceptible differences caused by IPL participation - will IPL players be fatigued, or burned out, or just more match-ready and savvy? (In this regard, I'm especially curious to see how India do, given the less-than-ideal team selection). Lastly, the pitches in the Caribbean are likely to be slow and low and possibly less conducive to big hitting. This could mean an increased role for spinners, or less appetizingly, for slow-medium trundlers. Let's hope it's the former.

The T20 World Cup is a good model for a major cricket tournament in today's cricket world: it is short, sweet and competitive after a slightly low-key start (and in the case of India, even that is not the case, given the off-the-field significance of their game against Afghanistan). Like many other folks, I would not mind a cricket world in which the T20 World Cup and the Champions Trophy alternated every year (i.e., a major limited-overs tournament involving all nations every year). It enables talk of bragging rights amongst the major nations on a regular basis in this arena and would greatly increase the significance of the other limited-over games played (hopefully as part of bilateral series) the rest of the year.